Rat Problem! – Geneva 1943

The Geneva city council at the mid-month meeting Monday night considered the best method to employ for extermination of the rats that are said to be numerous and unusually large in the vicinity of Logan Avenue and along the stores in State Street.

Alderman Richard Barney stated that he has received numerous complaints of the increase in the number of these pests and that any day they may be seen in back of the stores along the business street and that they are also numerous in the vicinity of Logan Avenue where they have stripped standing corn until one owner claims the loss of over 50 bushels.

It was considered a matter for the Geneva health department to look into and various methods of rat exterminators was discussed.

City Clerk Victor G. Johnson stated that he had seen rats go up the stalks of sweet corn last summer and that he had counted 14 large ones as they ran from a barrel of garbage in the rear of a local business place.

It is understood that Dr. Hetherington, the city health officer, is going to give the matter his consideration and determine the best method of dealing with the situation which it was declared is a menace to the health of the community.

This is a post in celebration of the Geneva History Museum’s 75th anniversary, 1943 – 2018.